Different strokes for different folks

Tips for Entrepreneurs: People with money prefer audio books.

Bookstore 311.
(photo credit:Courtesy)

How do you learn, and does it matter? It does if you intend to make money
selling your information to your audience and customers! I’m sharing with you an
important secret: how to double your income when selling information or
entertainment to your audience.

Do you read books? If you do, you are a
member of a segment of society that likes to acquire new knowledge via the
written word. Many, if not most people like to learn via reading (like you are
doing right now as you read this column). However, there are other groups
of people who learn from different kinds of media. They turn to sources other
than the written word for business or enjoyment. Is one form of learning better
than another? No, but knowing how you, and your audience, prefer to learn does
matter.

Think of the “books on tape” folks. The publishing houses don’t
publish audio-book versions of their favorite books for fun. They do it because
there is a large target market of people who, for whatever reason, choose not to
read but rather to absorb knowledge by listening. Studies show people listen to
audio books while traveling, exercising, relaxing, cooking, cleaning, gardening,
crafting, walking a pet, etc. Other studies show that people whose jobs involve
repetitive manual tasks, such as having to concentrate while doing the same
thing over and over and over again, also use audio books at work.

People
who have a difficult time reading for various reasons – dyslexic, blind or some
of the elderly – also like audio books. Still others actually learn better
through hearing information rather than reading it. You’d be surprised how many
people prefer to listen to books. But trust me, popular authors would not spend
precious time recording the entire book narration if the profit stream wasn’t
big enough to make it worth their while.

But surprise, surprise, many
people actually do both. They listen and they read. And to do that they buy both
the print and the audio version of books. And if there is video, they will buy
it as well!

The American Psychological Association reports that the primary
customers for audio books are frequent book readers who see audio books as a way
to “read” more while pursuing other lifestyle activities simultaneously. Most
importantly, they are well-educated and have higher incomes than “regular
reader” non-listeners. Not surprisingly, they tend to also be older
(30-plus).

See? It’s not just that some people buy books and some people
buy audio books. Notice the words “the primary audio book customer” is paired
with the words “higher incomes.” This means if you want to make more money and
attract an affluent buyer, you will create audio products as well as written
ones.

So if you write a book and you don’t consider the other formats,
you’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table because people with money prefer
audio books. If you want to get more revenue streams, you need to seriously
consider creating these audio formats to sell as well.

Don’t do it just
because the affluent prefer them. People with more money may buy your audio
book, but there are also people who buy multiple forms of the same thing;
whether they have money or not, that’s how they spend what they do have. There
are books that I have both the audio and print versions of because I like to
hear the audiobook version and then skim the print version when I want a
refresher. I also attack books with a highlighter and corner folds whenever I
see something that is particularly interesting. This means that past
buyers of your product on your customer list are fantastic candidates for a
special offer of another format of the thing they already have!

(On that note,
here’s a tiny but valuable piece of advice: Whenever you print something, a
product of any kind, always add the following two words on the package: Volume
One. There are people who want full sets of information and will search
for, and buy, every book or tape in a set!)

It’s horrifying to see how many
businesses miss very similar possibilities and who ignore the product types that
lead them to the more affluent customer – the one they want to ultimately target
if they want to sell their goods. (For instance, if you were selling something
toward the low-income market, then advertising in Cigar Aficionado would
probably be a bad idea because the targeting is all wrong.)

Even when you
advertise in a newspaper or online, the thought needs to be: “Who am I trying to
reach? What is the message they need to hear?” If they are educators, there
needs to be teacher-speak. And if you are targeting parents, you need
parent-speak. Use the wrong speak in the wrong ad and the target market will
ignore you! If you are selling tours to Syria, this paper is probably the wrong
place for you to advertise – no matter how wonderful your ad would
be.

issamar@issamar.com

Issamar Ginzberg is a business adviser, marketer,
professional speaker and rabbi who has been published in more than 50 business
publications.

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